Marriage Of Young, Odu Never Meshed

Skip Miller

Some marriages are destined to fail. The mutual appeal may be there. Outlook direction, goals ... all seem compatible. But something doesn't click; there can be no happy ending.

Such was the case of Tom Young and Old Dominion University. Thursday afternoon, Young was terminated as the school's basketball coach, a position he held for six years.

Though Tom Young remains one of the most respected basketball coaches in the country and ODU has a fertile basketball tradition, something was missing during their marriage.

It wasn't school support - even when it lagged during the losing seasons. Though Hampton Roads' fans love a winner, they adore ODU.

It wasn't the caliber of players Young recruited, the style of play he taught, or his rapport with the public. Those ingredients can't be questioned.

It was ... everybody knew something was missing. Except for the 1986-87 rebuilding year, Young had the tools to produce 20 victories and post-season appearances every seasons. For whatever reason, he could never hit that stride.

The Monarchs would be preseason favorites and then surrender to a series of injuries and transfers and plain bad luck. Maybe next year. Everybody said maybe next year. And they were getting tired of saying it.

Some will look to Young's Jan. 17 loss of control as the reason he had to go. Playing at Western Kentucky, a 77-74 ODU loss, he lost composure and chased down first a referee and then a Western Kentucky player. That episode was mere frustration. A good coach fighting Murphy's Law (what can go wrong will go wrong).

Nor should we forget Old Dominion University's guilt in Thursday's parting. The school and its fans expected too much from their basketball program.

They could not accept ODU is not one of scores of schools playing post-season caliber basketball. They remain prisoners of the school's elite past.

Sonny Allen brought the school the NCAA Division II national championship in 1975. He used that trophy as a ticket to a Division I coaching job at Southern Methodist.

Paul Webb, who had built a small-college power at Randolph-Macon, replaced Allen. It was Webb who guided the Monarchs into Division I in 1977 and the Sun Belt Conference in 1982-83.

During his 10 years as coach, Webb averaged 19 victories per season and made post-season tournaments nine times. Still, he found himself under siege. The Big Blue Beast - ODU's market monicker several years ago - had an insatiable appetite and Webb couldn't shovel in the victories fast enough.

When Webb was kicked upstairs to an administration job, the stage was set for Tom Young's debut at the start of the 1985 season. He arrived from Rutgers, where his coaching skills had produced eight NCAA Tournament appearances in 12 years, including a Final Four berth in 1976.

Tom Young had been to the big time where Old Dominion so covetously wanted to go. He was the man. There was no doubt about it.

And now, six years later, we can look back and see that something wasn't quite right. It wasn't Tom Young. It wasn't Old Dominion. It wasn't either, yet it was both.

It was simply one of those marriages destined to fail.

Where does it go from here? Who knows? The Big Blue Beast exhausted two outstanding coaches. Next year, the school shifts to the Colonial Athletic Conference. Right or wrong, fans see that as an easier row to hoe than the Sun Belt and they will adjust their expectations accordingly.

They will allow one year of coach-player adjustment. Then the demands of 20-victory seasons and post-season appearances will resurface. The chore of feeding the Beast will again leave the marriage unattended.